Improving wifi / wired hone network connection

truescot

Forgive my ignorance, I'm sure this is simple...


Looking at the best way to improve wifi in our house. Main router is in living room with a wired connection to TV / Virgin box. Reception around house on mobile devices is decent enough, but another smart TV and XBox in another room with 2 brick walls in between and wifi signal drops off regularly (actually completely gone now), causing kids stress (1st world problems eh? :rotfl:). What is my best bet for better wifi /internet to the TV / console (wired is fine if necessary)? I know there are boosters / extenders / powerlines, but I think they all do slightly different things and not quite sure what is best for my purposes.


The types of thing I've looked at;


https://www.wickes.co.uk/BG-Twin-Switched-13A-Wi-fi-Range-Extender-Socket-with-1-x-USB-Port---White/p/167050


https://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/powerline/PLW1000.aspx


https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1070754


Thanks you lovely people!

mksysb

Wired is always going to be the best. I'm using a powerline and had no problems, probably worth a try in your case.

arciere

The best option is always to run a wire from the router and then connect a simple wireless access point in 'client' mode.
Second option would be Powerline.
Don't consider the so-called 'repeaters', 90% of the time the signal you get is so degraded that it's unusable.

JJ_Egan

Ethernet cable as first choice.
You should check router is at best angle try turning its axis and wifi channel is best .


https://fossbytes.com/how-to-increase-wi-fi-speed-choose-correct-wi-fi-channel/

arciere

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Ethernet cable as first choice.
You should check router is at best angle try turning its axis and wifi channel is best .


https://fossbytes.com/how-to-increase-wi-fi-speed-choose-correct-wi-fi-channel/

Interesting article, it starts the correct way by explaining why you should always use channels 1,6 or 11, then it ends by saying "use a WiFi analyser and choose the least congested channel", which is obviously a bad advice.

JJ_Egan

Yes 6 or 8 never noticed much difference and many WiFi Analysers say channel 1 best . Set to channel 1 and then says 6 best .

truescot

Cheers for the info. Powerline it is then.


And regarding changing the Channel, a tutorial video on the Virgin media site says that switching it off and on at the back from time to time will always ensure it chooses the least congested channel - decent advice? I did try logging into the router online but it looked a bit beyond me. Is this necessary given the above?

benson1980

We had one of the extender sockets in our house when we moved in. It didn't seem to do much at all.

We went for a mesh system in the end, which is another option. Works perfectly and never drops out or needs resetting. More expensive than powerline adaptors though.

esuhl

arciere wrote: »

Interesting article, it starts the correct way by explaining why you should always use channels 1,6 or 11, then it ends by saying "use a WiFi analyser and choose the least congested channel", which is obviously a bad advice.

It depends on what neighbouring wifi networks are using. If you're right next to networks using channels 2, 5 and 10, then you wouldn't want to use channels 1, 6 or 11 yourself.

thorganby

I agree that using 1,6 or 11 is not always the best option because it depends what channels are in use locally and these are very commonly used.

I have always found that using channel 13 gives best results, as nobody ever uses it.

arciere

thorganby wrote: »

I agree that using 1,6 or 11 is not always the best option because it depends what channels are in use locally and these are very commonly used.

Yes, and there is a reason why it is this way, because 1, 6 and 11 are the only non-overlapping channels you can have. If you choose channel 5, for example, you end up having only two non-overlapping channels, which is 5 and 10.
Always best to use THE SAME channel rather than an ADJACENT channel, as this will only cause interference, as also mentioned by the article posted earlier.